I’ve been ill since 2014, unfortunately with a rarer form of ALS with extreme spasticity and bulbar symptoms.
Unfortunately, I can no longer speak or swallow. I’m quadriplegic and anarthric, and can no longer move anything. Despite this, I still find quality of life.
I used to be an extreme athlete and did crazy things.
I’m both a doctor and a patient myself. I made the diagnosis myself.
I live in a normal family, and we have a young daughter.
My wife is a nurse and takes care of her.
We try to live and live as normally as possible.
Unfortunately, I can no longer work and now I write books. Writing is tedious and exhausting. I have a good computer with infrared light control, and I write with my eyes. Not as fast anymore, but better than nothing.
I founded a small publishing house for literature and art and support young artists and authors.
Das Leben ist anders als früher auch aber immer noch lebenswert.
Endurance sports for 10 years:
More than 30 marathons (personal best 3:09),
5x Ironman,
Marathon des Sables (250-kilometer ultramarathon through the Sahara),
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
Race Across America (5,000-kilometer non-stop cycling race across the USA from west to east);
Trans-Australia non-stop by bike, 4,200 km in 7 days
and various other events
Ironman Klagenfurt
Trans-Europe Tour
Dragon Run Siebengebirge/Germany
Race Across Germany (by bike from Flensburg to Oberammergau in 48 hours)
Other sports:
Diving, tennis, paragliding, sailing, skiing (and recently motorcycling and taekwondo)
Jürgen Reul trained as a police officer and subsequently worked for the police.